Just like the last two years the Hockenheim Ring hosted the season finale of the ADAC GT Masters and eleven drivers showed up at the Motodrom with intact championship hopes.
The over 20 full season entrants were joined by guest entries from JRM, with two of their Nissan GT-R for Matt Bell/ Peter Dumbreck and Jody Fannin/ Steven Kane, the SaReNi United Chevrolet Camaro for Oliver Gavin and Albert von Thurn und Taxis and a Corvette for the RWT Racing Team.
In Qualifying it was Frank Kechele showing once again that he is one of the fastest qualifiers in the championship, putting the Lambda-Performance Ford GT onto the Pole Position for race one. Joining him in row one it was championship contender Maximilian Götz in one of the Polarweiss-Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3. In third it was René Rast in one of the three Prosperia C.Abt Audi R8 LMS ultra, ahead of David Jahn in a Farnbacher-Porsche. Championship leader Diego Alessi only qualified in tenth.
For race two it was guest driver Jeroen Bleekemolen putting the fastes time on the board, keeping up with his teammate it was newly crowned BES Champion Maximilian Bukh qualifying second. Dominik Schwager put the Lambda Ford GT into third, with championship leader Daniel Keilwitz qualifying in fourth.
Race One
The first race of the weekend literally started off with a bang, as Gerd Beisel made contact with a competitor. The result was a heavy impact into the pit wall which send his RWT Racing Team Corvette ending up in flames, luckily Beisel escaped the wreck unharmed. Just seconds later it was Rahel Frey rolling her Prosperia C.Abt Audi R8 LMS ulta in the Parabolica section. This lead race control to throw the red flag and stop the race, to clean up the mess. After a 32 minutes red flag period the race resumed behind the safety car, with the new distance being 40 minutes. Once the race got underway it was Frank Kechele taking the lead and he was able to get away from Götz in the Polarweiss-SLS. When Kechele turned the Ford GT over to his teammate Dominik Schwager he already had build up a five second gap to the Götz/ Bukh SLS. Schwager was able to even put further distance between him and the SLS, taking the chequered flag with a 7,3 seconds advantage over the SLS.
By finishing seconds Maximilian Götz and Maximilian Bukh were able to close the gap to the championship leaders Diego Alessi and Daniel Keilwitz. Because of the fact that championship contenders Robert Renauer, together with Martin Ragginger, took third and Dominik Baumann/ Claudia Hürtgen finished fourth the battle for the overall crown tightend up. Still leading the championship after race one it was Diego Alessi and Daniel Keilwitz, who finished fifth.
Thrown out of championship contention was the BMW Z4 GT3 duo of Jeroen den Boer and Simon Knap, taking the flag in sixth place. Seventh went to David Jahn and Jürg Aeberhard in the best placed Farnbacher-Racing Porsche 911. 2012 champion Sebastian Asch, sharing one of the two MS Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra with Florian Stoll, finished eight. While the final two points scoring places went to Thomas Jäger/ Luca Ludwig in the second Polarweiss-SLS and the Callaway Corvette of Christian Hohenadel/ Andreas Wirth.
By taking her fourth victory of the season in the Gentlemen-Trophy it was Christina Nielsen taking the class crown. Together with Kuba Giermaziak she defeated Toni Seiler/ Jeroen Bleekemolen and Remo Lips/ Lennart Marioneck.
Also taken out of the fight for the overall championship battle were Christopher Mies and René Rast. After blowing an engine during qualifying the Chevrolet Camaro of SaReNi United couldn’t take part in the race, the team were trying to get their engine refitted for Sundays race two.
Race Two
The championship deciding race proofed to be full of drama, with Daniel Keilwitz getting spun on the opening lap by Simon Knap in the DB Motorsport BMW Z4 GT3. This put Keilwitz way down in the scoring, and resulting in the former FIA GT3 champion charging back through the field. When he turned his Corvette Z.06 GT3 over to Diego Alessi, the ‘Vette was already back into the top ten.
At the front of the race it was Jeroen Bleekemolen in control, the fast Dutch was able to hold of Maximilian Bukh in the championship contending Polarweiss-SLS and Dominik Schwager aboard the Lambda Ford GT. As a result of the spin by Keilwitz, Bukh, together with Maximilian Götz, was the virtual championship until his engine blew out on lap 14.
After the rounds of pit stops it was Frank Kechele able to get by Toni Seiler in the leading Corvette. Kechele topped his weekend off by scoring a double victory for Lambda Performance, finishing 1,3 seconds ahead of René Rast and Christopher Mies, who held of their Prosperia C.Abt teammates Christer Jöns/ Markus Winkelhock. This sealed the team championship for the team centered around former GT Masters champion Christian Abt.
By finishing fourth it was Robert Renauer securing himself the runner up championship position. Finishing fifth it was Sebastian Asch and Florian Stoll in a MS Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra. After Claudia Hürtgen had a contact with Toni Seiler, taking out both the championship contending Schubert BMW Z4 and the Callaway Corvette, it was cruise control mode for Diego Alessi, crossing the line in sixth. This meant that the 2013 ADAC GT Masters championship went to Daniel Keilwitz and Diego Alessi.
One place behind the championship winning ‘Vette it was Daniel Dobitsch and Aditya Patel in the second MS Racing R8 LMS ultra finishing seventh. Positions eight and nine went to Farnbacher Racing, with Jürg Aeberhard/David Jahn finishing ahead of their team mates Christina Nielsen/ Kuba Giermaziak. This also meant that Nielson took her fifth Gentlemen Trophy win of the season, finishing off her championship in style. Just like on Saturday Christian Hohenadel and Andreas Wirth took the final point.
The 2013 season of the ADAC GT Masters has come to an end, with the champions Daniel Keilwitz and Diego Alessi crowned, while Prosperia C.Abt took the team championship. Christina Nielsen takes the Gentlemen Trophy championship, she dedicated the championship to the late Allan Simonsen, her co-driver for the season opening races.
Soeren Herweg
